This might be the time to wonder what the odds are of actually seeing the reboot of The Crow on which we’ve reported over the past year and change. Stephen Norrington was attached to direct for some time, and he’d written a script that, with polish work done by Nick Cave, was generating interest. An offer reportedly went out to Mark Wahlberg to star. But an unnamed actor became involved, who, according to Mr. Norrington, requested a new script from a new writer. So Stephen Norrington left, and now Mark Wahlberg confirms that he is no longer involved in any capactity. Details on that, and the actor’s spot-on take on M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening, after the break.

We never committed to making the movie. They talked to me about it and there was a director attached who I was a fan of, and he’s no longer doing it. We just thought about it – ‘is there something cool to be done there?’ But we’re not committed to making the movie.

Instead, he’ll be in Contraband, the remake of Reykjavik Rotterdam, and the comedy that Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy fame is directing.

And then there’s The Happening. M. Night Shyamalan’s increasingly notorious so bad it’s bloody hilarious movie (“why you eying my lemon drink?“) will stand as one of the most notable misfires on a resume that, being honest, already had a few misfires. (And, lest we forget, some great work, too.) But at least Mr. Wahlberg has a sense of humor about it.

At a press conference for The Fighter, the actor talked about having almost worked with Amy Adams once before:

We had actually had the luxury of having lunch before to talk about another movie and it was a bad movie that I did. She dodged the bullet. And then I was still able to … I don’t want to tell you what movie … alright “The Happening.” Fuck it. It is what it is. Fucking trees, man. The plants. Fuck it. You can’t blame me for not wanting to try to play a science teacher. At least I wasn’t playing a cop or a crook.

Compare and contrast that with one of Mark Wahlberg’s last memorable statements about The Happening, made to MTV when he was promoting Max Payne. Then he said that M. Night Shyamalan gave him his worst advice ever, about using guns in movies:

[Night] gave me the worst advice he could have ever given me. He said, ‘After [‘The Happening’], you can never hold a gun again. You know that, right?’ I said, ‘Are you crazy?’ He said, ‘I’m serious, don’t ever hold a gun again.’ And I said, ‘I don’t know about that, man.’